Tunnel work not to blame for Bridlington road hole

Ben Lugg

Yorkshire Water have moved to reassure residents of a Bridlington Street that a hole which opened up in the middle of their road last week is nothing to do with major tunnelling work they have carried out in the area.

St Hilda Street has been closed to traffic since the hole appeared on Friday and police have placed a cordon at each end of the road and a temporary plastic cover over the hole.

Residents were told to move their cars off the street and have been unable to return their vehicles since.

There were concerns among some local residents that the hole could have been caused by the building of an 800 meter long storm water tunnel nearby, from Palace Car Park to South Promenade, but Yorkshire Water have said the problem was caused by an existing sewer.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: “We have carried out further investigations and discovered that ground movement has caused the sewer to disconnect from the highway gully.

“Yorkshire Water will repair it as soon as possible so we can get the road back open.

“We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience this may cause while we carry out the repair.

“We would like to assure local residents that tunnelling completed over eight months ago in this area was 10 metres below ground and is not related to this road surface subsidence.”

Despite the reassurances, residents on the street are still frustrated that they are unable to park on the road and are angry that no-one has explained the situation to them.

St Hilda Street resident Justin Kinder said: “It’s awkward not being able to park in the road especially with the kids and nobody has told us anything.

“Cars had been hitting a dip in the road where the hole is now before it fell through.”

Fellow resident Claire Nelson added: “I’m worried it could get bigger, obviously there is a danger otherwise they would let people park on the road.”